Release Week is the busiest time of the year here at Card Kingdom. We receive thousands of preorders from customers around the world, and we aim to get the new product into players’ hands as quickly as we can. A ton of work goes into a production this large, so today, we wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on here during a set release.
Our product shipment doesn’t arrive until the Wednesday before Release Day, but we try to do as much pre-work as we can earlier in the week. On Monday night, our Fulfillment team assembles hundreds of Priority Mail A boxes – the most common size for shipping a booster box. Fun fact: Mailing box towers have excellent structural integrity.
Once our product shipment arrives, it’s time to get cracking! We open tens of thousands of booster packs in the 48 hours before Release Day and spend hours prepping the cards to be added to our inventory.
We arrange the packs in 5,000-count boxes and distribute them to teams around our office.
So many shiny new booster packs!
Teams of six work together in our conference rooms to sort cards by rarity and title.
We use 2-by-5 card-sorting trays to sort cards by rarity. The holes at the bottom allow us to push stacks of cards up to remove them from the tray slots – as opposed to grabbing from the sides, which can damage the cards.
Once the cards are sorted by rarity, we sort them into ten letter groups, and then by card title. Those uncommons are looking good so far!
Finally, the sorted cards arrive on our shipping floor, where our Fulfillment Specialists pack them into card cases and send them to you.
Looking to get your hands on Hour of Devastation? We have plenty of singles, sealed product, and more available on our website.
All photos by Chris Rowlands.